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pRRRdy says… Waste Reduction and Recycling Newsletter
Contact Us Every issue of pRRRdy says… includes some easy-to-do tips to help you in an environmentally friendly way.
Holiday baking time is here. Many ingredients, like nuts and chocolate chips, come in plastic bags, but they don’t all come with a zip closure. To keep these items fresh, this is a great idea to reseal the bag until you are ready to use it again. Cut off the top of a plastic juice bottle. Remove the lid. Feed the top of the bag up through the bottom of the bottle top. Spread the bag top out around the bottle top and screw the lid back on. This is an easy solution with items you have at home.
Waste Reduction Office In Fort St. John: 250-785-6328 Toll-free: 1-888-689-6328 Fax 250-785-6378 E-mail info@neat.ca Main Office 10027-100 St. Fort St John, BC V1J 3Y5
www.prrrdy.com Eco-Advisors Dawson Creek & area 250-219-6328 email catherine@neat.ca Fort St. John/North Peace 250-785-6328 email info@neat.ca Chetwynd/West Peace 250-401-1116 email jen@neat.ca
Peace River Regional District In Dawson Creek: 250-784-3200 In Fort St. John: 250-785-8084 Toll-free: 1-800-670-7773
www.prrd.bc.ca
Facebook: NEAT –Northern Environmental Action Team Twitter: NEATfsj Pinterest: NEAT Crew
Go Litterless this Season. This newsletter was prepared by Northern Environmental Action Team on behalf of Peace River Regional District.
pRRRdy says…This newsletter is printed with vegetable based inks. If you don’t want to save this newsletter for reference, please recycle it.
Fall 2013
Waste Reduction Newsletter
Volume 18
News Near You Dawson Creek Takes the Hassle out of Re-Sale
Chetwynd Takes Baby Steps Towards Community Composting
We are all professional collectors of “stuff.” Whether it is the latest trend, a different size, a phase or a must have, over time our closets and cupboards explode with collector’s items and we are forced to part with our “stuff”. But we love our stuff. How do we find a good home for our very personal and significant things and stuff?
The Northern Environmental Action Team (NEAT) and the Chetwynd Community Gardens have some exciting plans for community composting in the upcoming year.
Sherene of Simplify DC understands your love affair with your stuff and sees the value it holds for others too. In March 2012, Sherene opened Simplify DC on Facebook to help a friend part with their stuff and to be reassured of a great second life. Today, Simplify DC has 542 “likes” and features photo departments such as: Baby, Toys, Household, Games-DVDs-Video games, Clothing-Boy, Clothing-Girl (various ages), ClothingWomen, and Maternity Clothes. The popularity of Simplify DC can be attributed to Sherene’s strong networking skills in Dawson Creek. In addition to Facebook, Sherene sifts through Buy and Sells, keeps an ear to the ground for buyers and prices stuff to sell. Simplify DC offers clients an experience in consignment that no other second hand stores or charities can. A seller can watch their invaluable stuff be advertised, bid-on and sold while the buyer at the other end shops online without shipping costs or hassles. Start shopping now at Simplify DC! https:// www.facebook.com/simplifydc
Currently, yard waste is accepted at the Lion’s Recycling outdoor bin and transported to a location managed by the District of Chetwynd. If all goes according to plan, the location will change in the Spring of 2014, when the yard waste drop-off location will move to the Community Gardens in the Pine Valley Exhibition Park. The new location is ideal. The finished compost can be used to supplement the community garden soil. They are also looking into the possibility of selling compost back to the community. The District of Chetwynd, the Community Gardens, and NEAT are currently in discussions as to how to ensure this project will be most successful. In the beginning, only yard waste will be accepted, but the long-term vision is to take on household organics as well. Many communities in BC have successful composting programs which can reduce landfill waste by up to 40%. Organic waste left in garbage bags at the landfill contribute to the unnecessary production of greenhouse gases. When composted properly, organic waste becomes a valuable soil amendment, improving the fertility of your soil, plant vitality, and water purity. Organic matter in compost increases the soil’s water-holding ability. Both rain and irrigation water stay in the root zone longer, which helps keep your garden healthier and greener during dry periods.
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pRRRdy says… Waste Reduction and Recycling Newsletter
pRRRdy says… Waste Reduction and Recycling Newsletter
RECYCLING AROUND THE PEACE Material
Newspaper Newspapers Flyers
All Inserts
Paper Calendars Phone books
Office Paper Envelopes
Plastic containers, bags and milk cartons Yogurt tubs, ice cream pails Detergent bottles, milk jugs/cartons Plastic bags, shrink wrap etc.
Tin cans and aluminum foil Food cans Pet food cans Pie plates
Cardboard and Boxboard Corrugated boxes ( wavy in middle ) Cereal boxes Cracker boxes Paper rolls
Glass Food & makeup containers.
Separate bin at depots
BINS Dry Clean Shredded Paper in bags
Numbers 1—7 NO STYROFOAM Rinsed clean Lids off Squashed Stuff bags and plastic film into another bag
Clean Labels removed ( recycle with paper )
Flatten cans Clean Dry Flattened
Bessborough Landfill Buick Creek Transfer Station Charlie LakeMile 54 Shell.
Cecil Lake Transfer Station Dawson CreekNo Frills ( Extra Foods ) , Wal-Mart, Transfer Station
Goodlow Transfer Station Hudson ’ s HopeShop Easy Foods
Kelly Lake Transfer Station Mile 62.5 Transfer Station Moberly Lake-
Clean Lids off
Giving you more recycling options closer to home Buick Creek Transfer Station-19468 Aitken Creek Cecil Lake Transfer Station-4484-248 Road Goodlow Transfer Station-13197 Clayhurst Rd.
Pumpkins Took the Plunge
Adjacent to Fire Hall
Pink Mountain Transfer Station Pouce CoupeElementary School
Prespatou Transfer Station Rose PrairieCurling rink Transfer Station
Transfer Stations Continue to Expand...
There are 15 expanded transfer stations to serve you.
A small thing that you can do when grocery shopping to reduce your waste!
Recycling Locations
How to Prepare
Taylor
Willow/McMahon Dr.
Tomslake Transfer Station Tumbler Ridge Shop Easy Foods
Wonowon Transfer Station
DEPOTS Chetwynd 250-788-1111 4824 - 54 St Dawson Creek 250-782-2020 925-100 Ave Fort St. John 250-785-0300 10107-94 Ave Tumbler Ridge Trans. Site 250-242-3638 103 Ridge Rd.
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Fort St. John has a new fall tradition, the Pumpkin Plunge. Since 2011, the Northern Environmental Action Team (NEAT), in partnership with other organizations in Fort St. John, have hosted this alternative to throwing your pumpkin and jack-o-lantern in the garbage. NEAT hosts yard waste collections in Fort St. John because there are no alternatives to sending yard waste to the landfill. This is one alternative that adds a little fun. The community is invited to bring their pumpkin creations to the Pumpkin Plunge location and it is dropped from a 7 meter platform. The pumpkin parts are scooped up and added to a bin where people are allowed to add their yard waste. This makes the perfect mix for the compost pile the public works provides us with. NEAT was at the Home Hardware store on the morning of Saturday, November 2nd and ready to take the plunge. As participants arrived, their pumpkins were counted and weighed. The official numbers for Pumpkin Plunge 2013 are in. 166 pumpkins were kept out of the landfill equaling 1,823.6 lbs. The largest pumpkin to be brought and dropped was 200 lbs.
If you are reading this, then you probably are already somewhat “green”. I am sure that you already have your reusable cloth grocery bags to bring to the store, instead of those plastic ones. Did you know that North Americans use and dispose of over 100 billion plastic shopping bags each year and at least 12 million barrels of oil are used per year in the manufacture of those plastic grocery bags? So why are we talking about this if you already bring cloth bags to the store? I have noticed lately that when people buy their veggies and fruits, they put them in a plastic bag. Carrots and potatoes are great examples of this. Why not just stick them in your cart with everything else? I asked a few people and their response was that they did not want to get any germs on their food. I don’t think people realize that most of our food travels hundreds, if not thousands of miles to get to the store. Travelling a little further out of a bag is not going to hurt them. We don’t want to leave you with a kitchen full of dirty vegetables and fruits. We have a natural cleaning option that will remove pesticides and toxins from your produce. In your kitchen sink, mix a 1:4 solution of vinegar and water. Let them soak for an hour before putting them away. If you are still not convinces, reusable produce bags are available in a variety of sizes. No matter what method you choose, just think of how many more bags we could avoid!